When You Have A Connection With Someone, It Never Really Goes Away
by oitnbalexvause1
Summary: After Piper leaves Paris she finds a new boyfriend, Larry, but he's extremely abusive to her and Piper doesn't want him to hurt their daughter so she runs away and stays at Polly's house back in New York where she finds Alex again and they fall in love but of course issues with Larry arises when he finds out where she is. All the things leading up to the 8 years are still same.
1. Chapter 1: Running Away

Piper looked out the window, she felt like she was 22 again. It had been so long she had last visited New York. The last time she was here was probably about 8 years ago when she had left Paris and came there to get her stuff and head out of town, far away. She ended up moving to a little town in Pennsylvania where she met her boyfriend, Larry. Now ex-boyfriend. Now she was leaving.

She sighed heavily as she stopped at a red light and turned around to check on her four month old daughter, Isabella. She was all cuddled up in her blanket and had her binky in her mouth. She looked so peaceful, despite the crazy situation around her.

_Piper frantically threw all of her and her daughter's clothes into a big duffel bag. She ran around the house trying to find anything that she could fit in there. She couldn't think straight. Her mind jumped from 'what if Larry comes home?' to 'I can't fucking leave him. How am I supposed to do this on my own?' She stopped for a second and looked at herself in the mirror. She had a black eye that was almost swelled shut and a couple of scratches from when Larry pushed her down the stairs and there were a few loose nails on the steps. "I can't fucking do this" she said to herself and sat down. She thought about her daughter in sixteen years, and what would happen to her if she stayed. "FUCK" she screamed, and punched a wall, which caused Isabella to start crying. Piper picked her up and tried to comfort her. She couldn't believe she was finally doing this. She grabbed her bag and walked outside to her car and threw it in the back. Then she strapped her daughter in and sat in the front seat. "Fuck it. Theres no turning back now" she said to herself and started the car._

It was about four in the morning now, and she pulled into her best friend, Polly's driveway. She turned the car off and sat back in her seat. She was so exhausted. The past eight years just seemed like a big blur to her. She thought back to her life before Larry, when she was in Paris with her girlfriend at the time, Alex. Alex Vause. Piper's heart pinched at the thought of her. There was not a day that went by that Piper didn't miss her. Eight years ago, Alex imported heroin for a living, which Piper dealt with for a few years before it eventually got to be too much and she left her. On the same day Alex's mother died of a heart aneurysm. Alex was loaded, she took Piper all over the world. Their last stop was Paris and that was when she left. She's regretted it almost everyday since. There were so many times when she wanted to fly back to Paris and run into Alex arms and tell her she was sorry, she was an idiot, to take her back. But she knew it was doomed from the minute she walked out that door. For awhile, when Larry was still nice to her she had almost forgotten about Alex. Of course, she had never told Larry about her and all their adventures. There was no way he would have understood.

Things were so different now. 8 years ago she could not have seen herself running away from home, with a baby. Piper with a baby looked so awkward. She loved her daughter to death but she never had a real maternal instinct kick in. She got flustered any time when Isabella would cry or fuss, even though she really only did if she was hungry, needed changed, or was uncomfortable. She kept telling herself she's only a new mom, she'll get the hang of it eventually.

She opened the door to her car and grabbed Isabella and her duffel bag from the back. She walked up to the door and knocked. When Polly opened the door she watched her mouth drop from the sight of Piper's face. Was it really that bad?

"Holy shit, Pipes. What happened?" Polly asked as Piper walked in the house and threw all her stuff down.

"Wow great to see you too Polly!" Piper replied sarcastically "holy shit you got huge." Piper said, looking at Polly's pregnant stomach. She was about 7 months pregnant with a boy that she was going to name Finn. Piper always imagined her to be a better mother than she is, but the thought of Polly with a baby looked about as awkward as Piper with a baby.

"Seriously, what the fuck happened that made you finally decide to leave him?" Polly asked again

Polly had known about Larry being abusive for a long time. Piper was going to leave a long time ago, but then she had found out she was pregnant and had to stay with Larry because she had no money to take care of a baby or get decent prenatal care.

"Everytime I looked in the mirror I saw Isabella in a few years with all the same lumps and bruises I have, so I had to." Piper stopped for a second "I'm not quite sure what to do with her yet. I can't stand the thought of being without her but I feel like I should leave her at my moms for a week or two incase Larry finds out where I am." she stopped again, letting this all sink in.

"Holy shit, Pipes." Polly said. She didn't know what else to say. How do you respond to all that?

"I can't stay in New York for long, Pol. He'll eventually figure out where I am or come into the city looking for me."

"This is all batshit crazy, Piper. Damn, I wish I could rip his throat out."

Isabella started waking up, and Piper knew she'd probably be starving so she got her out of her carrier and grabbed a bottle.

"Here let me see her, I haven't seen her since she was a few hours old and all shriveled up like an old alien" Polly said and laughed at herself. Piper laughed too

"She's gotten a little bit cuter since then" Piper said and laughed again

"How is she at night?"

"She wakes up once to be fed and then usually once after that to be changed but other than that she's out most of the night. Thank God, I wouldn't know what to do if she wasn't."

"I hope Finn is like that. God help that child, I don't have a maternal instinct and all Pete does anymore is watch porn because I'm fat and no fun to fuck anymore." they both paused for a minute.

"Fuck, Pol. I can't believe we're having this conversation. We're mothers, like when the hell did we grow up? 10 years ago we would have never saw all this coming." Piper said and shook her head.

"10 years ago you were also dating Supercunt." Polly said and both her and Piper broke out laughing. Supercunt was Alex who could never remember Polly's name so Polly gave her that nickname.

They laughed together for awhile and talked about how things used to be and Polly filled Piper in on everything that had been happening. For once, Piper felt okay. She knew she still had a lot to worry about but she couldn't bring herself to care.

"I'm exhausted. I'm gonna head to bed. What room am I staying in?" Piper asked

"Here, follow me. I gave you Finn's bassinet for until you can go get all Isabella's stuff back." Polly said as all 3 of them went down the hallway.

Polly stopped at a closed door and opened it for Piper. It was a pretty big room, which Piper expected because Polly and her husband Pete had decent money. The room was blue with its own bathroom and shower, it was enough room for Piper and Isabella.

"Sweet dreams" Polly said and started to walk out

"Hey, Pol" Piper said and waited for Polly to turn around "thank you." she said and Polly smiled.

"No problem, I'll see you in the morning." she said and shut the door.


	2. Chapter 2: What?

The next morning Piper woke up to the sound of Isabella cooing to herself in her little bassinet. She had actually gotten a decent nights sleep the night before, which rarely ever happened since she had Isabella. She rolled out of bed and picked up the baby, who was probably just hungry. Before she fed her she got her diaper changed and got her out of her night clothes. Isabella used cloth diapers so she rinsed it off in the sink and threw it in the bag for the laundry.

Once Isabella was all fed she went into the bathroom and got ready. She looked in the mirror, her eye was starting to look a little better. The bruise was starting to fade to a yellow tint and she could open her eye a little bit more. She was feeling better overall. She wondered what Larry was doing. He was probably flipping shit. She knew he wouldn't go to the police, because that would lead to an investigation which would only hurt him in the end.

She contemplated going to the police. All of a sudden she felt worse than before, the thought of him made her stomach turn. _How would I even do that? I'd have to see him. I'd have to testify in court. What would that do to Isabella in a few years? _

She pushed the thought out of her mind, saying she'll deal with it later. She got herself ready and went out into the kitchen with Isabella. She saw Polly standing at the stove cooking, she had a mess around her on the counter; eggs, vegetables, milk, normal cooking stuff.

"Morning sunshine." Polly said to Piper

"I feel like I just slept for a year. That was the first time I've actually slept through the night other than waking up to feed her" Piper said "good luck sleeping when you have a baby. Even when they sleep through the night you'll still wake up anytime you hear them move. Or if you don't hear them move you have to constantly check them to make sure they didn't die." Piper said and Polly laughed

"Great. I'm already freaking myself out." Polly said as she dumped what looked like an omelet on a plate and sat down at the table. "if I don't feel him move around in there for over 5 minutes I start flipping out. Then I complain when he does move because he usually elbows me in the bladder or something." she finished, rolling her eyes.

"I wanted Isabella to stay in my stomach forever. At least I knew she was safe in there and I wouldn't have to worry about where she was or running to find her. Or forgetting her in a shopping cart at the store."

"It wouldn't surprise me if you did that." Polly said and Piper laughed

"Well I haven't broken her yet so I guess thats an accomplishment within itself."

They stopped talking for a few minutes while Polly ate. Piper wasn't really that hungry but she knew she should eat. She would probably go to the store later because she wouldn't feel right eating all their food especially while Polly is pregnant and inhaling everything in sight. Her and Larry had separate bank accounts and she still had money in her checking account so she'd go later today.

Which reminded her that she needed to find a job. Before she had just worked as a waitress while she paid off her college debt. She pushed that aside too. She didn't want to think about all that stuff. She just needed a little while to settle in and she wanted to let Isabella get bigger before she went back to work.

"You can make something if you want." Polly said

"Nah. I need to head to the store so I can get my own stuff. I'm probably going to head out in a few. Do you need anything" Piper responded. She kinda hoped she didn't. Piper didn't have _that _much money but she knew she should offer.

"Yeah but I'll give you my card. I don't feel like leaving the house and I'm not gonna make you pay for all my groceries." she responded and got up to grab her wallet from her purse. Piper watched her and started laughing when she saw how Polly walked.

"Nice waddle." Piper said still laughing

"Shut up. I'm the size of fucking jupiter I can't wait until they get this thing out of me." she said and laughed.

Piper got up and got ready to head to the store.

The blaring sound of an alarm woke Alex up. She rolled her eyes and turned over. She was at one of her regular fuck's houses.

"Turn that shit off." Alex groaned and threw a pillow over her head. She was never going to get back to sleep now that she was up.

"Jesus, Alex. Calm down." the girl said and rolled over and put her arm around Alex's waist. _Godfuckingdammit. She knows I hate it when she does this._ Alex threw the girl's arm off of her and turned over to look at her.

She tried to be happy with what she saw. But she was disgusted. The girl's name was Lauren and she could eat her pussy really nicely but that was about it. She threw the covers off and walked over to where her clothes were laying and threw them on.

"What are you doing?" Lauren said, sounding annoyed

"Leaving. I have a bunch of work to do." which was a lie, she owned 2 bars down in Brooklyn that rarely had any work along with them because she had people to do that for her. She just wanted to leave. She could never spend more than 2 hours awake and sober with Lauren when they weren't having sex. Lauren always wanted something more with Alex and Alex was turned off entirely by feelings and intense emotions. She had learned it was just better to not feel them, especially after her last ex, Piper. She kicked herself at the thought of her. Even after 8 years she still thought about her everyday, she still compared every girl to her she met. She hated herself for it.

"Oh okay..." Lauren said, looking disappointed

"Bye." Alex said as she threw her shirt on and walked out. She walked up to her car and got in. _Fuck._ She said to herself. She pulled away from the house and drove off.

Halfway home she saw the grocery store and remembered she needed stuff from there. She quickly swerved into the next lane to turn into the parking lot. A person behind her beeped. She flipped them off.

"Asshole." she said

The parking lot seemed empty except for a few cars, which made sense because it was only a Tuesday. She parked and got out of her car.

She walked in and grabbed a cart, she was half not really thinking about anything half thinking about how she should cut things off with Lauren when she bumped into a blonde with a baby seat.

"Oh shit sorry." Alex said and her mouth dropped when the blonde turned around. It was her. It was Piper. What the fuck happened to her eye? Is that a kid? How the _fuck _does she have a kid? She can barely take care of herself let alone another human.

"Oh my god what the fu-" Piper said and stopped dead when she realized who she was looking at. Alex was still just as beautiful as she remembered. She looked like she just rolled out of bed. She looked the same as she did 8 years ago except she didn't have blue tips in her hair, and it was a little bit shorter. Neither of them said anything, an awkward silence that made them both want to run away hung between there but neither of them wanted to run away.

"Hi..." Piper finally said, quietly.

Alex didn't say anything. She couldn't. She was so caught off guard. Did she want to yell at her? Ask about her eye? Hug her? She thought she hated her all these years but how do you hate the only person you've ever loved?

"Hey" Alex finally said, running her fingers through her hair and looking at the ground. Neither of them knew what to say other than that. _She's still so fucking beautiful. _Alex thought. Even with her bruised eye. The baby in her carrier started crying. _Oh my god its a real fucking kid._ Alex thought and her eyes widened.

"When the hell did you have a kid?" Alex asked as Piper awkwardly tried shushing it by putting a binky in it's mouth.

"Four months ago. It's a little weird to me still too" Piper said nervously laughing. What are the fucking odds that she would see Alex? She's been back in the city for 12 fucking hours, not even, and the first person she ran into was the one whose heart she had broken.

"Yeah. It is weird. I never thought I'd see a baby seat hooked on your arm instead of a Coach purse." Alex said raising her eyebrows and laughing too. Why the fuck wasn't she walking away? Why was she standing here? Why the hell wasn't she yelling at her to go fuck herself. What was she doing. She couldn't make small talk with the bitch who broke her heart the same day her mother died.

Piper turned the other way to show Alex the Coach purse on the other side. Alex rolled her eyes and laughed "I'm not surprised at all." she said. They started walking. Why were the walking together, why doesn't she run away. But something held her there. All these feelings she thought she'd pushed out of her head came flooding back. _Who the hell am I?_ She asked herself. If this was Lauren or one of her other usual fucks she would have told them to stop following her and get the hell away.

"How have you been, Alex?" Piper asked, looking genuinely interested. _How the fuck do you think since you left me?_ Alex thought to herself

"Just fucking grand." she said coldly and Piper drew back a little. She felt bad. It was the fucking eye that evoked sympathy from Alex, or so she tried to tell herself. "...alright, I guess. I got out of the business awhile ago. I own 2 bars down in Brooklyn now, but thats about it." she said, nicer. "What about you? What the hell happened to your eye? And how the hell did you get stuck with a kid?"

"I've been okay, I guess. And I wonder the same thing everyday how I ended up with a kid. She's a good baby though. Her name's Isabella. Isabella Noelle. I'm still trying to figure out how to be a mom..." she trailed off. Alex could tell she was avoiding the question about her eye. Why though? Did someone hurt her. Anger flared up in Alex. She wanted to kill anyone that hurt her.

"What about your eye?" she said, almost knowing what the answer was. She was ready to find whoever did it and kill them.

"I just slipped on one of Isabella's toys and fell down the stairs." Piper said. God, she was an awful liar.

"Who the hell did this to you?" Alex said, looking into Piper's eyes. She fucking missed her.

"Its nothing Al, really..." Alex's heart melted. She called her Al, she hadn't heard her voice in 8 years and it was way too long. Alex wanted to bring Piper into her arms and protect her from the world. _God fuck_ she inwardly hissed at herself.

"Bullshit. We may have not seen each other in 8 years but you're still a terrible liar, Pipes. What the fuck happened"

"I'll tell you later. We're in a grocery store. Not now." Later? She'd be seeing her again?

Alex looked at Piper struggling to carry the baby and push the little cart she'd gotten at the same time. Why would she get a cart without a baby holder if she had a baby? She was an airhead sometimes.

"Here." Alex said, grabbing the carseat from Piper and strapping it into the baby holder on her cart.

"Oh...thanks." Piper said, blushing. She was embarrassed. She usually grabbed the big cart but she didn't know why she didn't today. Her mind was just somewhere else.

Alex looked at the baby. It had big blue eye's like Piper's and a little head of blonde hair. The kid smiled at her and dropped it's binky on it's lap. It had drool everywhere, but damn it was a cute kid. It looked like Piper. Alex smiled back at the baby without really realizing it. She couldn't believe Piper had a kid. Alex always thought Piper would be an awful mom, she was too self-centered.

Alex still didn't know what she was doing. She walked around the store and shopped with Piper, she wanted to run away and go home into her bed and call one of her fuck buddies over and drink until she forgot her name but something about walking around a store with a drooling baby and her ex seemed more appealing.

Alex told Piper about her bars, which were named Alex's (how clever) and Soleil, which was the name of the dog of the woman Alex co-owned it with.

"Who the hell names their dog Soleil?" Piper said and laughed

"It's French for sun and the dog is like bright orange, so I guess thats why. But we couldn't think of anything and her wife said we should name it after the dog and so we just said fuck it."

"Whatever works, I guess. I lived out in Pennsylvania for a few years and I just came back here with Isabella last night." Piper said

They walked all over the store and talked. Alex pushing the kid in the cart and it was really the only hint to either of them that time had passed. They talked like the past 8 years hadn't happened and they had just gotten back from Paris. They even exchanged numbers. Alex couldn't fucking believe herself. She always said if she ever saw Piper again she'd spit in her face and tell her to go fuck herself, but she found herself getting back on to Piper's merry-go-round which she had sworn off years ago. Eventually they were done and Alex was driving back home.

"What the fuck." Alex said to herself as she pulled into her driveway. "What the fucking fuck" she said and threw her head into the steering wheel. There were so many questions she had that Piper never answered.


End file.
